Cross'd Traditions
by Fiore Di Fenice
Summary: Ignore the pun-filled title, if you please.  Full summary in first chapter; this story is not intended for younger children.
1. Chapter 1

**SUMMARY: Hanna is dead, and everyone feels the passing, especially Zombie. But when a previously unknown Cross comes into the picture, will there be a new paranormalist to add to their small family?**

**A/N: I'm not much of a violent writer (mainly angsty) so I'm terribly sorry if this isn't up to par. However, that aside, I hope that this doesn't hurt the collective minds of the Hanna fanbase, because I'd hate to cause severe trauma... *cough, cough*.**

**Anyway, a big round of applause, everyone, to the lovely Jess, who has finally made an appearance on this site (Go stalk her! NinaFaustin, everybody.) And my unofficial beta, Will, who hasn't beta'd this, because I just wrote it and I didn't want to have to wait because he's s l o w to reply (He's IssacBlast, and deserves a looksee on his stories! They're amazingly well-written!)**

**So without further ado, I present a story of drama! Of love! And as always, of angst!**

**~Leiary**

Doc Worth was tired.

He was tired of breathing, mainly. Even his cigarettes didn't keep much over him anymore. Everything was dimmed now, a shade of gray covering even the brightest of colors. Life had simply lost its hold on him, all pinpoints that held him to the map swept away with the death of Hanna.

It hadn't been an easy, soft way to go. No, he had been messing with the wrong crap again, as Hanna always did. Overdosed on paranormal activity by some strong, angry spirits. It had eaten away at his soul, tore at it with the acid that only the dead possessed. Simultaneously, every organ in the small man's body had burst open in a bloody disarray of entrails and intestines, and it took only one minute for the whole of it to happen. The zombie, Hanna's assistant, witnessed every part of it. Worth felt a twinge of pity for the living corpse, but at the moment it was forgotten as the self-proclaimed doctor glared at the aforementioned corpse who was leaning menacingly over the desk, green hands spread out to their fullest on each side of the desk to support the height of him.

"I'll say it again, you _can't_ have the apartment."

"And _I'll_ say again, I'm going to stay there! It's what Hanna would have wanted!"

"Hanna didn't know the circumstances!"

"_What_ circumstances?"

Conrad, Toni, and Vesser stood off to one side of Worth's "office", listening to the two argue. They all had been hit hard with Hanna's death, as sudden and violent as it was, but it was mutually agreed by all that the zombie had been affected the most, besides Worth. The undead man had been a brother and a father to Hanna, and to have it literally ripped away did an unkind number on his rotting mind.

Suddenly, the fighting escalated to blows. The zombie had given Worth a hit to the head with a fierce smack from one large hand. Grabbing him by his shirt collar, he pulled him to his feet and growled, "Give me one good reason not to throw you out into traffic."

"Because," Worth spat the word, blood trailing down to his cheek from the assault, "Hanna had a _sister_."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Another short chapter. There'll be longer chapters coming, but right now, I'm just trying to get it going, you know?**

**(I now have a facebook page specifically for ff.n, so if anyone wants to friend me, my name is the same as my penname. *hint, hint*)**

**~Leiary**

The silence that came with the revealed bit of knowlege was so thick you could almost see it in the room. Conrad was the first to speak.

"A _sister_. He had a _sister_ and didn't tell us."

"That's right," Worth said, straightening out his shirt and dusting imaginary lint off of it after the zombie finally let go of his collar in a shocked sort of way. What else didn't he know about the deceased redhead?

As if he could read his mind, Worth went on, "Hanna didn't know about it long." He scanned the small group with wary eyes, as if he wasn't sure he liked what he saw in their expressions. "He had just found out a few days before he... well, anyway, he was making plans to go see her and meant to tell you," and with this the doctor looked at the undead man, "as soon as he knew what he was going to do."

Toni spoke next. "Where is she?"

"That's the thing. I don't know. She's living somewhere in the city but Hanna hadn't been able to track him down."

"I'll do it," she declared.

"You may not want to." Worth turned to look at them as a whole. "Who wants to be the one to tell this kid that the brother she never knew is dead, and she'll never get the chance _to_ know him, huh?" When no one immediately volunteered, he concluded, "That's what I thought."

"I'll go." The zombie was staring at Doc Worth with a determined look, making his harsh features seem steely and cold. "I owe it to Hanna."

The men stared each other down, glowing red fiercly meeting icy blue. Flames devoured the glaciers, and Worth turned away to sit again at his desk. "Whatever you wanna do."

With that, the zombie stalked out of the dimly-lit room, slamming the metal door in an out-of-character manner.

Vesser pointed a thumb at the door. "Anyone going with him?"

Toni shook her head. "He needs to do this alone."

Conrad sunk into an ragged, lumpy armchair, head in his hands. "I should go, but... I..."

Worth reached into a cooler he kept by his desk, took out a bag of O-positive, and tossed it to the vampire. It bounced off his head and hit the dirty carpet with a dull _thud_. "Shut up, Connie, and drink."


End file.
